"Black as the raven was his brow; Sharp as a razor was his spear; White as lime was his skin."
We look in Anglo-Saxon poetry in vain for a touch like this:--
"Sweetly a bird sang on a pear tree above the head of Gwenn before they covered him with a turf."[28]
Celtic literature shows more exaggeration, more love of color, and a deeper appreciation of nature in her gentler aspects. The Celt could write:--
"More yellow was her head than the flower of the broom, and her skin was whiter than the foam of the wave, and fairer were her hands and fingers than the blossoms of the wood anemone amidst the spray of the meadow fountain."[29]
King Arthur and his romantic Knights of the Round Table are Celtic heroes. Possibly the Celtic strain persisting in many of the Scotch people inspires lines like these in more modern times:--
"The corn-craik was chirming His sad eerie cry [30] And the wee stars were dreaming Their path through the sky."
In order to produce a poet able to write both _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ and _Hamlet_, the Celtic imagination must blend with the Anglo-Saxon seriousness. As we shall see, this was accomplished by the Norman conquest.
When and where written.--We have seen that poetry normally precedes prose. The principal part of Anglo-Saxon poetry had been produced before much prose was written. The most productive poetic period was between 650 and 825. Near the close of the eighth century, the Danes began their plundering expeditions into England. By 800 they had destroyed the great northern monasteries, like the one at Whitby, where Caedmon is said to have composed the first religious song. As the home of poetry was in the north of England, these Danish inroads almost completely silenced the singers. What prose there was in the north was principally in Latin. On the other hand, the Saxon prose was produced chiefly in the south of England. The most glorious period of Anglo-Saxon prose was during Alfred's reign, 871-901.
Bede.--This famous monk (673-735) was probably the greatest teacher and the best known man of letters and scholar in all contemporary Europe. He is said to have translated the _Gospel of St. John_ into Saxon, but the translation is lost. He wrote in Latin on a vast range of subjects, from the _Scriptures_ to natural science, and from grammar to history. He has given a list of thirty-seven works of which he is the author. His most important work is the _Ecclesiastical History of the English People_, which is really a history of England from Julius Caesar's invasion to 731. The quotation from Bede's work relative to Caedmon shows that Bede could relate things simply and well. He passed almost all his useful life at the monastery of Jarrow on the Tyne.